On January 6, 2015, the Paso Robles police department in California charged a Jehovah’s Witness, Steven Martin Lindhorst, 51, with the following offenses:

Lewd act with a child under 14 years of age (felony), possession of child pornography (felony), possession of explicit child pornography (felony), posting intimate photos of another without consent (misdemeanor).

Lt. Tim Murphy said Thursday that officers received information on Jan. 6 from “a concerned family member” of Steven Martin Lindhorst, alleging that Lindhorst was in possession of child pornography on his personal computer.

The police discovered one computer and a hard drive with approximately 24,000 images and 200 videos, some allegedly made by the accused.
He remained in San Luis Obispo County Jail as of Thursday afternoon in lieu of $160,000 bail.
One person who knows the family said, “I am shocked. It must be awful for the family. As far as I know he was still an elder in 2012.”

According to another report by JWdivorces, Steven Lindhorst has been a Jehovah’s Witness minister. It has been reported that he was a Bethelite who worked at Watchtower headquarters from 1983 until 1986.

Allan Sukram, Lindhorst’s brother-in-law, currently works at the Watchtower’s branch headquarters in South Africa. Lindhorst is originally from Michigan and the son of Kurt Lindhorst and Sandra Lindhorst.

Investigators have identified and contacted 14 of his alleged victims. Detectives are attempting to identify all the victims and are encouraging anyone with information to call the Paso Robles Police Department, even anonymously.

Contact Crime Stoppers at (805) 549-STOP (549-7867) or submit a Web Tip from the Crime Stoppers website at http://www.slotips.org. You can also submit a “TEXT TIP” by texting “slotips” and your message to CRIMES (or 274637).